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2016 MLB Opening Day Preview [Update]: Schedule, Pitching Matchups, And Live Stream

By Daniel Benjamin
Published on: 11:37 PST, Mar 28, 2016

Major League Baseball will commence its 140th season on Sunday, April 3, with four games on the slate.

The 2016 MLB regular season will feature each team playing a total of 76 divisional games and either six or seven games against the other two divisions in their respective leagues. Every team is scheduled to play 20 interleague games throughout the season – the interdivisional matchups will be AL East vs. NL West, AL Central vs. NL East, and AL West vs. NL Central.

According to the Fayetteville Observer, the Miami Marlins and Atlanta Braves will play a special neutral-site game on a newly-constructed field in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, in observance of the Independence Day long weekend. It will be the first professional, regular-season sporting event held on an active military installation.

The four games on Sunday are St. Louis at Pittsburgh, Chicago Cubs at Los Angeles, Toronto at Tampa Bay, and New York Mets at Kansas City.

St. Louis Cardinals (Adam Wainwright 0-0) at Pittsburgh Pirates (Francisco Liriano 0-0), 1 p.m. EST TV: ESPN, Watch ESPN

This match-up between NL Central Division rivals features the two teams that had the best records in the majors last season. The Cardinals, who won the division title, was the only team to reach the century mark (100-62) while the Pirates finished just two games in back of the Cards at 98-64.

St. Louis returns from last year, with the big losses being OF Jason Heyward and RHP John Lackey, and is once again expected to compete for the Central division crown along with the Chicago Cubs and Pirates.

Adam Wainwright, who is making his fifth opening day start, is once again the ace of the Cardinals staff. The 34-year old right-hander only threw 28 innings in seven games, including four starts, in an injury plagued season. Wainwright went 2-1 with a 1.61 ERA along with 20 strikeouts and four walks last season.

Wainwright has fared pretty well against Pittsbugh, though he has struggled at PNC Park. He is is 5-3 with a 5.15 ERA in Pittsburgh. He was 0-2 with a 3.46 ERA there in 2014.

Pittsburgh has won 280 games over the last three years, which is the second most in the majors behind only the Cards. Despite the regular season success, the Pirates have not made it to the NLCS, losing twice in the wild-card round.

Pittsburgh will have a couple of new regulars in 1B John Jaso and 3B David Freese and has overhauled the back end of its rotation with Jonathan Niese, Juan Nicasio, and Ryan Vogelsong.

Liriano gets the ball on opening day instead of Gerrit Cole. It will be the third opening day start for the 32-year-old lefty. Liriano went 12-7 with a 3.38 ERA and a team-best 205 strikeouts in 31 starts a season ago. He went 1-1 with a 3.71 ERA in four starts against the Cards last season.

Liriano has had a considerable amount of success against St. Louis the past three years, posting a 4-2 record with a 2.58 ERA in 11 starts. However, he kind of struggles at PNC as he went 4-4 a season ago and is 14-10 with a 3.53 ERA in 43 starts over the last three years.

Toronto Blue Jays (Marcus Stroman 0-0) at Tampa Bay Rays (Chris Archer), 4 p.m. EST TV: ESPN2, Watch ESPN

Toronto is coming off its first playoff appearance since 1993 and that was due to its explosive offense as the Blue Jays scored 127 more runs than any other club last year. Toronto still has a dangerous lineup with Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion, Troy Tulowitzki, and Russell Martin. Toronto does have questions about its starting rotation with David Price and Mark Buehrle no longer around.

Toronto will give the ball to Stroman on opening day. The 24-year-old righty is making his first opening day start after making just four September regular season starts after tearing his ACL in the spring. Stroman went 5-0 last year after returning, which includes one postseason victory in three appearances. He has a career record of 15-6 with a 3.31 ERA in 30 games with 24 coming as a starter.

Stroman hasn’t been too successful in his two career starts against the Rays, posting a 1-1 record with a 5.73 ERA in 11 innings. He was a little a better against Tampa at Tropicana Field, surrendering two runs in six innings of action.

The Rays enter the season with a very talented pitching rotation and solid defense. There is plenty of questions surrounding their revamped offense. Tampa’s new additions include Corey Dickerson, Steve Pearce, Hank Conger, Brad Miller, and Logan Morrison. Dickerson, Miller, and Morrison are expected to be everyday players.

Archer had a solid season last year, leading the team in several categories. The 27-year-old went 12-13 with 3.23 while finishing second in the AL with 252 strikeouts.

Archer faced the Blue Jays six times a year ago, going 3-2 with a 3.11 ERA in 37.2 innings. The right-hander has faced Toronto a career-high 15 times, posting a 5-3 record along with a 3.26 ERA.

Archer pitches pretty decent at Tropicana Field although he didn’t have much success last year. He was just 3-8 with a 3.11 ERA at home last season but is 13-16 with a 3.38 ERA in 45 career starts.

New York Mets (Matt Harvey 0-0) at Kansas City Royals (Edinson Volquez 0-0), 8:30 p.m. EST, TV: ESPN/Watch ESPN

This is a re-match of the 2015 World Series where the Royals won in five.

Kansas City maintained its offensive core by re-signing left fielder Alex Gordon. The Royals also have Kendrys Morales, Mike Moustakas, and Lorenzo Cain, who finished third in the AL MVP voting. They added Ian Kennedy to the rotation but the starting five isn’t anything spectacular.

Kansas City will send Edinson Volquez to the mound on opening day. Volquez went 13-9 with a 3.55 ERA in 200.1 innings. The 32-year-old limited the Mets to five runs in two World Series starts last year.

Volquez did not face the Mets during the regular season but over the past three seasons, he has faced them four times. The right-hander is 2-1 with a 4.74 ERA over 19 innings.

New York has perhaps the best rotation in baseball and made a good decision re-signing OF Yeonis Cespedes. Cespedes helped the team’s offensive production a lot of coming over in a trade. 2B Neil Walker and SS Asdrubel Cabrera were added to help the team defense and offensive production.

The Mets planned to send Harvey out on opening day, however, the New York Times is reporting that his season debut is a little in doubt. The 27-year-old missed Monday’s spring training game with an unspecified medical issue and has been scratched from his start on Tuesday.

Harvey went 13-8 with a 2.71 ERA in 29 starts. The 27-year-old righty, who missed the entire 2014 season, was fantastic during the postseason – going 2-0 in four starts with a 3.09 ERA.

Harvey threw well in his only World Series appearance, tossing eight innings while giving up two runs and five hits. He has not faced Kansas City the last three years during the regular season.

Monday’s Games

Houston Astros (Dallas Keuchel 0-0) at New York Yankees (Mashiro Tanaka 0-0), 1 p.m. ET, TV: ESPN, Watch ESPN

This is a re-match of last year’s AL wild card game, which the Astros won 3-0.

Kuechel, last year’s AL Cy Young Award winner, dominated the Yankees a season ago. The 28-year old went 2-0 against New York and did not give up a run in 16 innings.

Tanaka is making his second Opening Day Start in a row for the Yankees. Tanaka underwent arthroscopic surgery in the offseason and had an up-and-down spring training. He suffered the loss to Houston in last year’s playoffs, allowing two runs in five innings.

San Francisco Giants (Madison Bumgartner 0-0) at Milwaukee Brewers ( Wily Peralta 0-0), 2:10 ET

Minnesota Twins (Ervin Santana 0-0) at Baltimore Orioles (Chris Tillman 0-0), 3:05 ET

Seattle Mariners (Felix Hernandez 0-0) at Texas Rangers (Cole Hamels 0-0), 4:00 ET, TV: ESPN, Watch ESPN

Boston Red Sox (David Price 0-0) at Cleveland Indians (Corey Kluber 0-0), 4:10 ET

Washington Nationals (Max Scherzer 0-0) at Atlanta Braves (Julio Teheran 0-0), 4:10 ET

Philadelphia Phillies (Jeremy Hellickson 0-0) at Cincinnati Reds (Raisel Iglesais 0-0), 4:10 ET

Los Angeles Dodgers (Clayton Kersaw 0-0) at San Diego Padres (Tyson Ross), 7 p.m., ET, TV: ESPN, Watch ESPN

Toronto Blue Jays (Marco Estrada 0-0) at Tampa Bay Rays (Drew Smyly 0-0), 7:10 p.m.

Colorado Rockies (Jorge De La Rosa 0-0) at Arizona Diamondbacks (Zack Greinke 0-0), 9:40 p.m.

Chicago Cubs (Jake Arrietta 0-0) at Los Angeles Angels (Garrett Richards 0-0), 10 p.m. TV: ESPN2, Watch ESPN

The Chicago Cubs are the favorites to represent the NL in World Series this year, per Las Vegas Sportsbooks.

It is no wonder that the Cubs are the favorites heading into the season as they made it to the NLCS and return the NL’s Manager of the Year (Joe Maddon), rookie of the year (Kris Bryant) and Cy Young winner (Arrieta). Chicago also spent a ton of money adding OF Jason Heyward along with RHP John Lackey and utility man Ben Zobrist.

The Chicago Tribune reported that Arrieta, really no surprise, will get the opening day start. The 30-year old had a historical season on his way to winning his first Cy Young award, he finished the season with a record that included four complete games and three shutouts. The right-hander finished in the NL’s top three in W’s, IP, SO, ERA, WHIP, W% and CG.

Arrieta has not faced the Angels in the last three years.

The Angels won 80 or more games for the 11th time in the last 12 years, yet they have only reached the postseason once in the past five years. Los Angeles will have three new regulars in the lineup but they still also have Mike Trout and Albert Pujols. The starting pitching is a concern.

Chicago White Sox (Chris Sale 0-0) at Oakland Athletics (Sonny Gray 0-0), 10:05 ET

[Photo by David J. Philip/Associated Press]

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